it is only a demonstration in a controlled environment. the flames are a har ch reminder of how often this plays out in homes. cooking equipment and kitchen fires are the number one cause. here at the consumer product commission in montgomery county, they show how quickly a simple flame can get out of control. your heating and cooling equipment is the next likely culprit including space heaters that kill 100 people a year. fire retardant curtains. i was impressed with how well they worked. no fire to report. overall six people die every day in house fires. a statistic that can be lowered. >> there are too many fires in the united states. too many fires. they happen every minute every day. as chief mitchell said, six people die every couple minutes here in this united states from a fire. that's a tragedy. >> reporter: barbara and keith, we said at the top of the broadcast here and we are going to say it again, the number one thing, smoke detectors. make sure you have them and the batteries work. have them in every room of your home. it's th